October 2007
Church Clergy and congregations are being asked to celebrate the life and animal welfare work of Animal Welfare this Sunday (Sunday 7 October 2007). The founder of the Animal welfare group was also remembered earlier this year in the film ‘Amazing Grace’ for his part in ending the slave trade 200 years ago. A keen supporter of animal welfare, the group helped set up the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals on 16 June 1824. It was the first national animal protection organisation and helped enforce a new law to prevent cruelty to cattle, sheep and horses. The RSPCA came into existence as the result of Christian vision. A London vicar called the meeting that led to the foundation of the Society. Its first minute book records the declaration that: “the proceedings of this Society are entirely based on the Christian Faith and on Christian Principles”. Finance, Legal, Politics The minimum wage and annual holiday entitlement were both raised today, meaning an increased pay packet and more days off for millions of UK workers. The rate for the statutory minimum wage will go up 17p to £5.52 for adult workers, and by 16p to £4.60 for 18 to 21-year-olds. The rate for 16 and 17-year-olds will also rise from £3.30 to £3.40 an hour. Meanwhile, fulltime workers will be entitled to an extra four days holiday, with annual leave entitlement going up to 24 days a year. The figure will increase again to 28 days in April next year. Health UK laboratories handling the world's deadliest germs and toxins have experienced more than 100 accidents and missing shipments since 2005, and the number is increasing steadily as more labs across the country are approved to do the work. No one died, and regulators said the public was never at risk during these incidents. But the documented cases reflect poorly on procedures and oversight at high-security labs, some of which work with organisms and poisons so dangerous that illnesses they cause have no cure. In some cases, labs have failed to report accidents as required by law. The mishaps include workers bitten or scratched by infected animals, skin cuts, needle sticks and more, according to a review by The Associated Press of confidential reports submitted to regulators. They describe accidents involving anthrax, bird flu virus, monkeypox and plague-causing bacteria at 44 labs in 24 cities. More than two-dozen incidents were still under investigation. The number of accidents has risen steadily. Through September, the most recent period covered in the reports obtained by the AP, labs reported 36 accidents and lost shipments during that previous 3 months of 2007 - nearly double the number reported during all of 2005. High Society Musicals are everywhere. But where are the new writers? And why aren’t they more famous? Roger Foss asks US composer Jason Robert Brown as his Parade comes to the UK. And we compile our shortlist of today's hottest musical talent. Attacking the growth of “pretty ghastly” West End musical revivals last year, An upcoming writer said: “Where is a single young team or young writer writing fresh new musicals that are successful? I can’t think of one.” Similar worries were expressed by Rice’s former collaborator, the maestro of musical theatre, Andrew Lloyd Webber. Things weren’t the same, he said, as when he and Rice became famous new kids on the West End and Broadway blocks: “There haven’t really been the new young writers one would have hoped to come through.” Legal, Media, Politics Right now, high-powered lobbyists for NTL are descending on the courts. Their aim: to secure amnesty for their clients, insulating them from liability for breaking the law in connection with the NSA’s illegal warrantless wiretapping program. Clearly, EFF’s case against AT&T is in their crosshairs. Considering the urgency of the issue, mainstream media coverage has been surprisingly spotty and incomplete. But there are some excellent updates and analysis from bloggers and news sources that have been doggedly covering the facts as they come in. Here are a few of our picks: The Nation: Granting amnesty to NTL would signal the government in an illegal course of conduct. It would send a loud message to other businesses and individuals: Don't worry if the executive branch comes to you secretly and demands that you violate the law or impinge on basic liberties. We'll bail you out. And it would stymie lawsuits that not only serve accountability, but also provide paths to illuminate what harm has been done to our rights. Companies and individuals that break the law without the benefit of the Executive's blessing pay the consequences of their unlawful actions every day. Police, Street, Underworld Ok we've got some big shit going on right here. Tunstall went into uproar last week and the streets became a gun war battlefield. Whatever's happened it seems like there's a possible city wide gang warfair about to kick off. Police were dispatched to the scene when multiple reports of hearing gunfire came flooding into their phonelines around 9pm on Monday night. The local surrounding gangs in that area seem to be having a dispute over their territory. Maybe it's a big time for change? Who won is anyone's guess. Though it looks like anyone who got shot must have got pulled out by their fellow runners, as no bodies were found at the scene. Whether an agreement had been made between the factions involved in order to keep the constabulary at bay, or some other factor was involved is a question on everyones lips. So Did someone else take the fallen? And why? Russian arms imports and exports have been steadily growing up to an annual $1 billion since last year. Every year, independent experts, however, persistently forecasted a recession in exports for the coming year. The slump never occurred, though, as boosting exports kept setting new records and beating the skepticism of analysts for official data. This year, these doubts look grounded as never before. Official reports have reviewed the total volume of the Russian military export three times in the past two months. University Researchers at Keele University have written a computer program using neural networks which are duped by optical illusions the same way as we do. Their virtual robots, which were trained to ’see’ like us, could help to understand why we fall for optical illusions. This might also be important for robot vision. If robots are trained to ’see’ like us, they will act like us — and make mistakes. Very interesting…